A final entry is coming soon

I'm going to post pics from Prague and Vienna with my family, make some general comments about my time in Europe then mothball this blog. Hope you guys like it.

I'd blog next year, but y'know... there isn't all that much to write about.

Pictures from Krakow!

A shot of the royal cathedral at Wawel Castle. Krakow was the capital of Poland until the 15th or 16th century, and you can tell it was a rich medieval city.


Me at the cloister at the royal cathedral.


A cool old dragon statue outside Wawel.


The dragon also shoots flames periodically. Cool!


Best hostel ever? I do think so.


King Kasimierz, the greatest king of Poland. The Jewish quarter of Krakow is named after him because of how tolerant he was towards the Jews.


The Polish Lombard Market? Do long lost relates also buy their beer at the Lombard Market?


True that.


Wawel is really pretty. The whole town of Krakow is really, despite having gone through so much trouble in the past 200 years or so.


We had lunch here. A liter of beer and a huge plate of honey ribs with fries and coleslaw cost around $7. Polish food was cheap and very delicious.


The Cloth Guild Hall. They used to sell clothing and cloth here but now it's just a place for souvenier vendors.


I imagine that this is what every good Communist drove.


We walked by this probably 10 times and it was never not funny.


Kasimeirz on his horse outside Wawel.

Once again, loved the trip and only wish we could've stayed longer.

Love everybody,
A.Diddy

Back from the Motherland

Krakow is a beautiful city and Polish people are some of the nicest in the world. Loved the trip.

I'll get some pictures up tomorrow.

Going to Krakow this weekend

And staying at the "Momotown" hostel.

Should be awesome.

Italy/Switzerland

The Rialto Bridge in Venice. I was actually surprised at how nice Venice smelled. You think, "big city on water," which is a recipe for a foul smelling place but they must have a hell of a sanitation system.


The Four Tetrarchs. Not much interesting about this except it's from Roman times and we learned about it in Art History.


Zurich isn't especially happening, but it's beautiful.


Another shot of Zurich. Pretty.


Zurich again.


Back to Italy! Sorry these pics are so out of order. This is the tomb of Dante Alligheri, Italy's most famous poet. They put him on their two Euro coin. He's especially big in Florence because he was Tuscan.


This is just a copy of the David statue, but it is the original location (before they moved it to shelter it from the weather and people and whatnot). I was surprised by how big it is in person, even if people tell you it's bigger than you expect.



Riding the shortbus in Florence.


Santa Croce (Holy Cross) Church in Florence. Beautiful.


Burt Reynold in Florence. Awesome.


Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's in Rome. Michelangelo is Big (capital B) in Italy.


St. Peter's. You may have heard of it.


This about sums up my night on the Roman Pub Crawl.


Baptistary in Florence. The doors of this building are some of the earliest examples of Renaissance art.


Cathedral in Florence. I actually heard that one out of every three major art pieces in the world is in Italy and one third of that is in Florence. So 1/9 of every major art piece in the world is in Florence. I believe it.

My camera was full while I was in Milan so I need to get those pictures from Rachel. I'll try to do that soon. Till then!

Love,
A.Diddy

Pics from Greece

I'll post write ups when I have more time. For now enjoy the pics.


The lovely city of Itea. We stopped here for lunch one day. The Greeks were having a festival for Mardi Gras so a few of our group danced with them and they offered us bread and cheese. It was pretty cool.


A view of the town of Kalambaka from the Meteora Monastery. The roads up here were terrifying, especially considering we were on a huge coach bus. Worth it though. Maybe.


A view of Athens from the Acropolis. Pretty.


A shot of Delphi. Funny story about the Oracles: there is a natural gas leak there so that is why they hallucinated and were able to 'predict the future.'


Another shot of Delphi, with some guy in it.


Helmets used by ancient Greek warriors. Imagine those in 100 degree heat and you wonder how they ever died from each other.


Drink and drink and still never feel satisfied.


Shot of the Parthenon.


At the Athens archaeological museum. This is a very famous statue of either Zeus or Poseiden. Check out how long the arms are.


They had recently privatized the university system in Greece. These students were not happy. Luckily we got out before they really started rioting.


Riot police keeping all those troublemakers in line. Once again, we were lucky to get home before the teargas started flying.


At the Greek War Museum. They stole this tank from Bulgaria. I didn't want to tell them that if you have to steal from the Bulgarian army, your own probably isn't doing too well.


Another shot of the Acropolis. The weather was beautiful (unlike everywhere else in Greece which was cold and windy).


Me at the Acropolis.


Another one of me at the Acropolis. I wasn't actually listening to my iPod. Our tour leaders had a microphone so we could listen from a distance away.


Rachel and I at the Acropolis.


A horse and rider in Athens. Our Art History Prof worked on this when she was a student. Cool.

Okay seriously

The pics.... they are coming. Soon.

I had 25 pages due in the last week. Soon.




I promise.